Sunday, August 31, 2008

A Kansas City man was killed in an apparent hit-and-run accident on the Heart of America Bridge early today.

Kansas
City police said the 41-year-old man appeared to have been walking
south and was found dead in the road on the bridge about 1:35 a.m.
Identification of the man was withheld pending notification of his
family.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

By raiding their headquarters. The Star-Trib says five people were arrested, though 100 others were handcuffed and questioned before being sent on their merry way. Snip:

In a statement Saturday morning, Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher
said the St. Paul raid targeted the RNC Welcoming Committee, a group he
described as "a criminal enterprise made up of 35 self-described
anarchists...intent on committing criminal acts before and during the
Republican National Convention."

KSHB says that homicide and patrol will get more resources, and the mayor plans a "new tools task force" -- more details coming this week, though the idea is to spend more on education and other quality-of-life improvements in troubled neighborhoods.

The mayor and the police chief are holding a press conference this
morning to discuss the rise in homicides in Kansas City. I’m not sure
what good, if any, comes out of these public displays of inaction.
They are more or less just an opportunity to say that more needs to be
done and that they will exhaust all resources to ensure that crime is
reduced. Hardy har har.

In the end, nothing really can be done
about it. I mean, let’s be truthful. Cops nowadays are nothing more
than responders to crime. Very rarely, if ever, do you hear of them
breaking up an act of violence. However, they are real good at
stopping people for busted tail lights and California stops.

The Kansas City-based Midwest Innocence Project announced Friday
that it was launching an investigation into the case of five people
convicted in the 1988 explosion that killed six Kansas City
firefighters.

... (Executive director Jay Swearingen said recent articles in The Kansas City Star helped
prompt the project to begin a review of records in an effort to
determine whether the defendants were wrongly convicted and whether the
project should petition for their release from prison.

While the
firefighters’ investigation will be one of the project’s 300 cases, he
said, “it is by far the largest and most prominent of those cases.”

Swearingen
estimated that the investigation would cost more than $250,000 — money
the project currently does not have. But he said it would try to raise
those funds “because it would be an injustice for us not to look into
this case.”

Homicide #82
On Saturday morning at approximately 2:30am, KCMO police were called to a residence in the 6700 block of Paseo in regard to a shooting. Upon arrival officer's located a 19yr old shooting victim in the yard of a residence with no signs of life. He was pronounced dead a short time later. Witnesses state the victim was involved in a disturbance with another male when he was shot. There are no suspects in custody and detectives ask that anyone with information to call the TIPS Hotline.

Homicide #83
On Saturday morning at approximately 2:40am, KCMO police were called to Armour and Locust in regard to the sound of gunshots. Upon arrival officer's located a 26yr old shooting victim on the steps in front of a residence in the 3400 block of Locust with no signs of life. He was pronounced dead a short time later. Witnesses state they heard the sound of gunshots and observed a white van and a red vehicle leave the scene. There are no suspects in custody and detectives ask that anyone with information to call the TIPS Hotline.

From KCPD: The Kansas City Missouri Police Department conducted a Sobriety Checkpoint on August 29, 2008 from 2300 hours to 0400 hours at Blue Ridge Blvd and Holiday Drive. North and Southbound traffic was checked with total of 372 vehicles stopped. A total number of 13 DUI arrests were made, along with 4 Driving While Suspended/Revoked, 1 Interfering, 1 Possession of Marijuana, 1 Hazardous Moving Violation, 4 other traffic charges, and 7 KC Warrants.

From a press release sent out Friday afternoon by police: Tomorrow, Saturday, August 30, Chief of Police Jim Corwin and Mayor Mark Funkhouser will hold a joint press conference at 11 a.m. to address the record breaking number of homicides in recent months.

The press conference will be held at 403 Myrtle Avenue-the site of the unsolved homicide of Michelle Haley who was gunned down the night of March 3rd. This homicide, like many, remains unsolved. Kansas City has recorded 81 homicides this year and 19 in the month of August. This is the highest number of homicides in a single month in more than two decades. Tomorrow morning Chief Corwin will announce his strategy for addressing the unsolved murders of 2007 and 2008.

“Addressing the problem of violent crime in the community requires a holistic approach,” said Chief Corwin. “and that is why we are all here.”

Welcome back to the Open Thread, our blog's space for off-topic comments and discussion. This is also a good spot to share links, if you've seen an interesting story somewhere else.

Please sign your comments, and please avoid profanity, as well as racially and sexually abusive language. And when you sign your comments, please use only one nickname. I read the OT, but if you need to contact me directly, my email is jhart@kcstar.com.

It's been almost a year since Cammisano, 52, was found killed in his Riverside home. So far, there have been no charges filed in the case. The reward fund stands near $6,500, Crime Stoppers reports. Cammisano's family plans a vigil for this weekend and hopes to talk to reporters about the case.

A lot of people said, from the get go, that prosecutors wouldn't be able to pull this off. Snip from Christine:

The man charged with killing 3-year-old Erica Green will not face
the death penalty, Jackson County prosecutor Jim Kanatzar announced
today.

But the first-degree murder trial for Harrell Johnson, 28,
still will be heard in Jackson County, not in St. Louis. A judge had
agreed to a change of venue for Johnson, but Johnson rescinded his
request in exchange for the removal of the death penalty.

The jury decided this morning that Richard and Tina McKinley conspired to deprive White of his right to a fair trial.

Lawyers
representing White in the civil rights lawsuit contended that his wife
and McKinley hid the extent of their romantic relationship from
prosecutors. They also contended that McKinley failed to seize a diary
kept by White’s daughter that could have been helpful to his defense.